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Monthly Archives: April 2014

This piece was inspired by a classmate’s response to the question posed by our radio lecturer: “do you think South Africa is really ready for a female president?” the girl responded “no!”, she went on further to say “women are too emotional and we need less emotional people running this country…”

Now, I’m not one who has much political interest further than equipping myself with knowledge that will give me an informed decision come voting time, but I found her point of view interesting in its irony… South Africa is an emotional country that is trying to move passed emotionally trying times (aparthied). You may disagree but if you look closely, a lot, if not most of the decisions made in this country, for this country, are emotional driven. It’s part of the reason our politicians behave in the manner that they do… unruly in debate situations, less than straight forward when asked direct questions etc. It also forms part of why people remain “loyal” to our current ruling party, the ANC… There is an emotional attachment passed down from generation to generation to those who never even saw the horror of the former regime… born into “the new world.”

So, would it be the worst thing to have an emotional and intelligent woman, with emotional intelligence (which is one of the better qualities that I feel more women have than men), run our country and take it to the next level? I really don’t think so, in fact a part of me believes that it is exactly what we need.

Imagine how easy it would be to change your vote if elections were held each year, giving opportunity to all political parties who feel they can make a difference. Unfortunately a year doesn’t give enough time to hear what a political party has to offer, witness it being implemented, reap what is sown and give feedback as a nation.

My vote this year is not going to be cast because I’m in anyway pissed-off or annoyed and the current standings of the country under the rule of the ANC, my vote will be cast as part of the vision that our late father Nelson Mandela had which is a country that is not afraid to demand better and do what they can to get it. It’s time for someone else to take the reigns, in the global scheme of things it’s trial and error that will move this country to where it wants to be as a whole.

Another classmate of mine commented that “a vote for ANC is like being in an abusive relationship, complaining about it, and still going back”.

Like this:

Tuesday is normally when I post my riveting investigative journalism feature — at least compared to watching TV static — called
The Box
. Then again,
normally
I haven’t spent the early hours of the morning on the scene of a car accident involving a cow. Such was the case this morning at 2 a.m., when my pager went off next to the bed and, five minutes later, I was behind the wheel of a wailing fire engine with a crew of five wondering,
Did I hear that call correctly?

Moments later, medics were on scene reporting over the radio that the driver was out of the car with only minor injuries. Though not audible, there was a collective sigh of relief by everyone in the engine. That’s because, in most cases, getting tapped out in the middle of the night for a car accident usually means rolling up on…